National Gallery of Art & Sculpture Garden

Last weekend while we were down in DC checking out the Old Post Office Clock Tower, we also took some time to check out the National Gallery of Art. Neither one of us had ever been there (it's not exactly one of the attractions school groups take on their middle school pilgrimage to DC). I...actually don't really like art museums. I know, I'm a terrible person, especially considering that at one point I was studying museums and the vast majority of museums are art-related. I like museums where you get to interact with stuff, but that's a topic for another day.

But the fact is, there are a few select kinds of art that I really, really love, and I will try my best to see. One of these is the work of the French impressionists. I am an absolute sucker for anything - I mean anything - painted by Monet. I don't even know why, because I usually like my art work to be incredibly realistic (I like paintings that look like photos), and impressionism doesn't really do that. But I do know that when I was very young, I was given the book Linnea in Monet's Garden. (It came with a Linnea doll, too!) For a young child obsessed already with things from the past, that book had a huge impact on me. So I love Monet. And when I saw that the NGA has a French impressionist exhibit going on, I knew we had to go check it out.

The cover on the Linnea book is of her standing on a Japanese bridge with water lilies below. These water lily paintings are Monet's fame and my favorite, favorite, favorite paintings. Here is the one at the NGA:

And here is another one of Monet's I really liked of the London Parliament building in fog (he has a series of these as well, just like the water lilies):

The NGA also has paints by Renoir (another painter I really like) and Cezanne, among others with whom I wasn't as familiar.

If you have never been to the NGA, it is huge. And it is easy to get lost and/or not know how to get to where you want to go. We actually walked through almost the whole museum after locating the French painters (there are staff members in every room to both help you find where you're going and to make sure that you aren't touching the paintings...use these people!)

In the rotunda of the museum is a beautiful display of flowers with a fountain.

Also associated with the NGA is the Sculpture Garden. In the winter they set up an ice rink but it isn't quite as awesome as we expected. But a lot of other people like it. We happened to go by when the Zamboni was out.

Eric's favorite painting is this Joan Miro mural in Cincinnati. When he happened to see that Joan Miro had a sculpture in the garden, we had to go see what it was. This is what we found:

Interesting, no? The NGA and Sculpture Garden are definitely things to go check out. Plus, they are free!